The present invention is primarily concerned with a game apparatus where the first game is played on a series of instant win game tickets but can also be applied to other gaming situations by the player is awarded a first prize in a first game.
Such instant scratchoff tickets have been marketed, initially in North America and now globally, for more than 3 decades. During this period there has been significant growth in this part of the lottery marketplace and in the types of tickets that are being offered to the player.
More recently there has been rapid growth in Internet gaming, most of which is operated from locations outside of North America and is considered illegal in many jurisdictions.
Lottery organizations are now looking at the rapid growth in the unregulated gaming market in order to determine whether they can participate and provide a product that is operated in accordance with the controls in place for their other product lines. This may require changes in legislation in some jurisdictions. Other jurisdictions have developed sites which are now operational.
Traditionally instant tickets have been operated independent of other types of gaming. Players purchase tickets at a retail location, play the ticket in accordance with the rules established for that game and if the ticket is an apparent winner present it at a retailer location where the winning status is verified and the prize is paid out.
As games were developed for the instant market efforts were made to increase the play value of the games in order to provide the player more interaction rather than simply scratching the ticket to reveal a series of symbols or prize values in order to determine if the ticket is a winner.
The next stage in the development process was to introduce extended play on the internet which is linked to the instant game and provides an extension of the play value of the ticket electronically. Ingenio, a division of Loto Quebec was one of the first to offer this type of extended play value.
Another alternative is the concept of having a second chance draw for players who did not win on the instant portion.
US Published application 2008/0174068 (York) published Jul. 24, 2008 discloses a method for conducting a lottery that offers players who lose the opportunity to use their losing lottery tickets to enter one or more additional lotteries, a replay program. This proposes that the player will be awarded points which can be used in a second lottery game which can be played on line.
US Published application 2008/0045299 (Bennett) published Jul. 24, 2008 and assigned to Scientific Games discloses a system and method for providing an additional or end-of-game drawing to players of a lottery game. In one embodiment, unique validation codes provided on lottery tickets can be encrypted using an algorithm and used to create a record of such encrypted codes. A player then participates in the lottery and subsequently submits the validation code from the ticket to a lottery provider. The lottery provider applies the algorithm to the submitted validation code to create another encryption code for comparison with the record of encrypted codes. In the event a match is found, the player is entered into a second-chance or end of game drawing.
The above two patent applications relate to participation in second chance draws/lottery style play, which are entered on the internet following purchase of an instant ticket. It appears they are targeted primarily for customers, who did not win, although the losing aspect is more strongly defined in the first application. In both cases, after a player has completed the registration process on their first entry or signed in, if they are pre-registered, they are requested to enter the validation or other ticket identification number and game number as a means of identifying the ticket they are holding. With the second application, the number entered is encrypted and compared to a list of valid numbers from that game and if a match occurs the entry is accepted. For the first application, there is no mention in the claims of a comparison to a supplied list. Once the entry is accepted it is assigned points to be used in subsequent drawings. Points awarded after acceptance of the entry are based on the price of the ticket.
Also in U.S. Pat. No. 7,424,617 of Yahoo there is disclosed a points based system which employs encryption during the entry phase. Points are redeemed for purchases on-line. The example used is for bottle caps.
One of the challenges presented by the second chance draw or others forms of internet gaming is to provide secure methods that ensure that the ticket entries being made, for winning or non-winning tickets is being done in a secure manner to protect the integrity of the lottery.
The above application of Bennett explains in detail extensive use of data encryption processes to help reduce the risk. This level of control has been developed in order to achieve a perceived level of data security once control of the sequence is released to the lottery who would operate it independently of the ticket manufacturer.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,824,464 (Wiel) issued Nov. 30, 2004 and assigned to Scientific Games is disclosed a lottery card game where the player is required by the game to go on to a second game arrangement played on line where the player plays additional games using the winning value from the first game to end up at a resultant cash value which may be zero if the second game or games are losing games, or may end up at a resultant prize value higher than the original ticket game. This cash value an be redeemed by the player at the lottery retailed by presentation of the original ticket.